The Wadsworth Themes American Literature Series, 1945-Present, Theme 18: Class Conflicts and the American Dream » (1st Edition)

Jay Parini is a poet, novelist, and biographer. He is Axinn Professor of English at Middlebury College in Vermont. Among his books are THE LAST STATION (Holt, 1990), BENJAMIN'S CROSSING (Holt, 1997), THE ART OF SUBTRACTION: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS (Braziller, 2005), and WHY POETRY MATTERS (Yale, 2008). He has written biographies of John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner. He has edited numerous books, including THE OXFORD ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LITERATURE (Oxford, 2004) and THE WADSWORTH ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY (Wadsworth, 2006).

Henry Hart is the Mildred and J.B. Hickman Professor of Humanities in the English Department at The College of William and Mary. He has published numerous critical books on modern poets, including THE POETRY OF GEOFFREY HILL (SIU Press, 1986), SEAMUS HEANEY: POET OF CONTRARY PROGRESSIONS (Syracuse UP, 1991), ROBERT LOWELL AND THE SUBLIME (Syracuse UP, 1995), and THE JAMES DICKEY READER (Touchstone, 1999). His biography, JAMES DICKEY: THE WORLD AS LIE (St. Martins, 2000), was runner-up for a Southern Book Critics' Circle Award. He has also published three books of poetry: THE GHOST SHIP (Blue Moon Books,1990), THE ROOSTER MASK (University of Illinois Press, 1998), and BACKGROUND RADIATION (Salt, 2007). He serves as managing editor of VERSE, a poetry magazine he helped found in 1984. His essays and poems have appeared in journals such as THE NEW YORKER, POETRY, THE SOUTHERN REVIEW, DENVER QUARTERLY, THE GETTYSBURG REVIEW, THE GEORGIA REVIEW, THE KENYON REVIEW, and TWENTIETH CENTURY LITERATURE.

The first thematic series published for American literature, THE WADSWORTH THEMES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE SERIES is currently comprised of 21 themes spanning the time period normally covered in the two-semester American literature survey course—1492 to the present. Each carefully edited booklet centers on a core issue of the period with attention given to the development of key themes. Each thematic booklet offers an introductory contextual essay, a variety of literary perspectives, headnotes and footnotes, along with a variety of visual elements. Henry Hart is a contemporary poet, biographer, and critic with a broad range of work to his credit. He currently holds a chair in literature at the College of William and Mary. His themes are drawn from the postwar era, and he puts before readers a seductive range of work by poets, fiction writers, and essayists. Many of the themes from earlier volumes find their culmination here. Hart offers students a chance to think hard about the matter of ethnicity and race in contemporary America. He explores the role of class, gender, and sexuality in American society. In all, these thematic booklets by Hart are certain to challenge, entertain, and instruct.

Preface     v
Introduction     1
Raymond Carver (1938-1988)     5
Cathedral     6
Charles Wright (b. 1935)     18
Clear Night     19
Charles Simic (b. 1938)     19
The Initiate     20
A.R. Ammons (1926-2001)     22
The City Limits     23
Louise Erdrich (b. 1954)     23
Saint Clare     25
Alice Walker (b. 1944)     28
From The Color Purple, two letters     29
Sonia Sanchez (b. 1934)     34
Aaaayeee Babo (Praise God)     35
Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)     38
Revelation     39
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (b. 1919)     56
Sometime During Eternity     57
Annie Dillard (b. 1945)     59
Holy the Firm     60
Credits     69